The following is a post sponsored by Yahoo! Every time someone clicks here to make Yahoo! their homepage, they’re showing their support for Girls For A Change.

I was selected for this opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Today, my teenage brother left for a two week trip with his boyscouts troup. They will be (well are currently in route) traveling via bus for many hours and will spend several days backpacking, bonding, and I’m sure having fun. Last night sitting at dinner with him and his friend, I was looking at him thinking about what life was like at that age. It’s hard to believe that I’ve become one of those people that says “when I was in high school…”.

Don’t worry, I don’t have any walking in the snow up-hill stories, but I do think times have changed.

In a matter of a few hours, I can real-time chat with my friend in England on Facebook, text with my friend in Boston, receive photos from another friend on the beach, all the while I’m sitting in my living room. With one tweet, text, or Facebook status I can complain about traffic or I can make a difference in someone’s life. I love that Yahoo is doing this initiative with Girls for a Change, that “all” I have to do is change my browser homepage and I can contribute to the Girls for a Change cause.

In the last few months I have used a text-to-give number to donate to Red Cross, written a blog post (and then promoted the heck out of it!) to help a friend reunite with her long-distance family, and donated clothes to a local girl who needed a fitting wardrobe for her first internship. I love how technology makes giving so easy these days. You can donate time, money, encouragement and so much more.

What is the most unique way you’ve used technology to give?

DON’T forget to change your browser!! Pass it along.

I have seen the following TED talk shared in numerous places.

Cali Harris (known also as caligater), posted it on her Facebook a few days ago  with the statement “If technology affects your life, this is a must-watch. (Yes, that means you. Reading this.)”

This video is 8 minutes long and well worth you time. Here’s a description of the video:

Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on “external brains” (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us? Case offers surprising insight into our cyborg selves.

I love the analogy of “Mary Poppins technology”.

With most valuable resources online, I love the contination of the conversation in the comments (aside from the spam of course). Here are a few comments that intrigued me:

• This generation of 20 and 30-somethings are so funny when they talk about technology! It’s like listenng to teenagers who think they invented sex. -Keith Hart
• I heard once that we race in technology, but lack the humanity to use it. Perhaps instead the technology gives a chance to examine our humanity, and how to improve upon both. -Andrew Alessio
• I teach at a university which means I deal daily with the education of the first truly “internet raised” people, in the sense that they are the first generation in history to have grown up surrounded by mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter etc. I see no discernable difference in terms of character expression or self awareness between them and my own fellow students from my days at university. If anything, they are more socially aware and atuned to their place in the world by their constant access to information about it and, importantly, feedback from it. I think the development of things like blogs (50,000 per day) and individual webpages like Myspace show, if anything, that focus on our own interests and emotions is developing rather than receding. Most students I ask think it’s important to turn their phones/laptops off from time to time just as much as I do. - Peter Hull
• Here is a fun thought brought about by personal experiance. People that are introverted have a tendency to be that way becasue they cant find people to relate to. That was my issue when I was younger anyway. I now am very social due to the technologies of today as I am able to find and be in touch with people of similar interest, no matter what the distance between us. I also have found many people that live close to me that had the same issues We make up a great social group that hang out and do what we all love all the time now. I think these connections are very good for our species. I love my tech and enjoy seeing it get better and better. -Eric Bast

So, what say you, blog reading person living in the technology age?

flickr: visual panic

This guest post was written by Eric Swayne, a fellow member of Social Media Club of Dallas. Eric is pas­sion­ate about holis­tic online mar­ket­ing, Tweet­Deck, Google Chrome, Star­craft and orig­i­nal recipe Dr Pepper. As we come close to wrapping up this series and the end of another year, I find this topic very fitting.
Wow.  What a year it’s been – I think we’ll look back on 2010 as the year social media got serious, the year smartphones finally got smart (and Apple got some real competition), and of course, the year of the Christmas Flash Mob.  But now we’re in that great week between Christmas and New Year’s; when work generally slows down, and we finally find some time to review those past 300-some-odd days.  For those of us that live and love the internet, it’s a chance for us to review and corral our digital footprint and finally get back to some sort of Zen.

Here’s some ideas for getting all the projects, posts, pictures and pixels back on track:

1.  Track down your digital life

Most of us tend to be early adopters of the latest social network or web service, but unfortunately, we leave a lot of these behind just as easily.  Unfortunately Gawker couldn’t keep 500k emails and passwords safe (and yes, mine was one of them), and there’s no guarantee these other networks can either.  Take some time to review who has your data, and delete your accounts on the ones you don’t use anymore.  To help you with your search, try starting with KnowEm.com, a site that can track down your name across 400+ social networks.  If you want to take another pass through your data, use Rapleaf’s personal info manager – you can also opt out of their tracking at that point as well, if you’re concerned about their latest news.

2.  Set up a monitoring engine

Hopefully you’ve already worked with Google Alerts, and have one running for your name and/or key web properties.  If not, start now and keep an eye on what’s being said about you across the web.  I like to go one step further by creating a custom RSS feed through Yahoo! Pipes, which gives me more real-time results and a lot more flexibility in capturing or excluding results.  I run this feed through Feedburner to email me the latest results every morning.  If you want to get started with Pipes, try monitoring some Twitter traffic with my custom Twitter to RSS Converter for Pipes.

3.  Check up on your authorized accounts

2010 might also be the year the User/Password died, since so many sites can log  you in through other credentials (thanks, oAuth!).  Google, Facebook and Twitter are now all more than just services – they’re your passport to services across the web.  Even though I know these connections are more secure than your run-of-the mill login, I still like to keep them cleaned up.  Each service (Google, Facebook and Twitter) has a page where you can manage these connections and rescind them if you wish.

4.  Clean out your apps

Did you know that the average shelf life of an app is less than 30 days? In fact, for free apps, only 20% of downloaders return back to the app after the first day.  Even if your phone has enough room for multiple Libraries of Congress, cleaning up your apps can make you more productive, and could even help your phone run faster.  My rule of thumb is 1 week – if I can’t remember using an app in the last week, or can’t imagine using it in the next week, it’s probably getting deleted.  Take a look at web options as well – do you need that weather app, or does m.weather.com do everything you need?  I also keep a folder for apps on “probation” – if they pass the 1 week rule they get moved into another folder.

5.  Migrate to a better browser

This one’s actually on my list for this year.  I’ve been a hardcore Firefox fan for a long time, mainly because of my special mix of extensions, hacks and themes.  But we all know Firefox is no friend of RAM, and has frankly been eclipsed by others in terms of speed.  I’m slowly migrating my way over to Google Chrome, and I think the new Google Web Store has just about sealed the deal.  Chrome even makes it easier to move with their Import feature, copying over bookmarks, saved passwords, browsing history and more.

6.  Best the backup battle

Backing up is one of those guilty habits of almost every geek – we all know we oughta do it, but very few have a robust method in place.  Being a geek parent, this is especially important for me, because we create literally gigabytes of pictures, videos and blog posts about our kids every month.  I’ve got everything synced to my Media PC, but even the best hard drives will die, someday.  Off-site backup really is the best way to go, even if just for your critical information and documents.  I’m using Dropbox pretty regularly right now, but I’m going to look at a more serious solution like Carbonite or Mozy.  And speaking of Media PCs…

7.  Free your TV – cut the cord

Yes, this is a point of great controversy, and I know some of you wouldn’t consider giving up your cable bill if it became over half your income.  But hear me out – 2010 was also the year that TV over the web really reached a tipping point, both in terms of content and availability.  Netflix and Hulu anchor the new internet TV ecosystem, and there are thousands of content sources across the web ready to stream right now.  Even live sports (often the Achilles’ heel of cord-cutting) is getting some love from sources like ESPN3.com.  There’s lots of set-top boxes available right now (from Apple, Roku and Boxee to name a few), but I went ahead and built my own Media PC.  For just under $300, I’ve got a platform that runs Windows Media Center, Boxee, and Hulu’s own desktop app – and if I want to upgrade, there’s nothing stopping me.  The savings you’ll find are truly profound – I even upped my internet connection speeds substantially and I’m still in the black.

8.  Clean out your reader

You guys remember RSS?  Waaaay back when?  I’ll give you a hint – it used to be the way all good geeks got their news, hot and fresh from the best sources.  I know a lot of people say today that Twitter is their new RSS, and I’ll give them that – it’s certainly become so for me.  But I think part of that is because we tend to over-subscribe to RSS feeds, and the overall river of news becomes impossible to consume.  A good, focused list of daily-reading or weekly-reading blogs and other sources can be as valuable as anything on TweetDeck, as long as you keep the list small.  Consider pulling your best RSS feeds out into a separate folder, and run everything else through a filtering service like PostRank.

9. Sort out your friends into lists

In the same vein of being overwhelmed, Twitter and Facebook have both created streams of social content that can quickly turn into so much white noise.  No group of friends is relevant without context – the metadata that you put in to sort them out by relationship or origin or background.  Patterns and gold nuggets of content only emerge when you can pull your friends’ social content into separate, coherent sources.  Facebook Groups and Lists are your best tools there, while Twitter Lists and TweetDeck columns get the job done on that platform.  Extra Credit: Take a look at how others list YOU on Twitter – this is one of the best sources for getting a handle on your real social impact.  Those keywords that others associate with you are the best feedback you can get.

10. Stretch out your brain and make connections

If there’s one thing you can do before the New Year and make a habit, make it this.  Malcolm Gladwell (of Tipping Point and many other books), Clay Shirky (of Here Comes Everybody and an absolutely must-read blog) and Seth Godin (general marketing godfather and author of books including Tribes and Lynchpin) are all amazing writers.  Why?  Because they reach far outside their own areas of expertise to bring case studies and anecdotes from disparate fields of study that help me understand the points they are trying to make.  Shirky’s “Gin, Television and Social Surplus” is so bleeding BRILLIANT because it pulls concepts from the 1800s directly next to the world of today and helps me understand both much better.  Make the next book you read about something other than social media, marketing or the internet.  Wander the shelves at your library or bookstore and just find something ELSE that interests you.  Wrap your head around a good video from TED – the premiere source of great ideas in 18 minute form.  Unearth a new trend at PSFK, JoshSpear.com, or CoolHunting.com.  Find something, somewhere, from someone else and see how it fits with your world view.

This is the 4th post in December’s Top Tens in 2010 Series. This guest post was written by Elisa Doucette, freelance writer who lives in Portland, ME not to be confused with Portland, OR.

For the month of November I participated in a little social media diet challenge in which I was only allowed to spend 30 minutes a day on social networking sites. For someone who twitches when she cannot update a Foursquare location or create a Facebook event from her mobile, this proved to be a full exercise in restraint.

30 minutes of social media for 30 days gives you lots of time to think (and publish a free eBook at 2 AM apparently) and examine your relationships. While I think that I have made good friends that I would not be able to enact without these tools, I am also aware of how shallow some of those connections are.

Sometimes there is more to be said than what can fit in 140 characters or a string of public wall updates. Here are some ways to stay in touch and communicate without having to even visit that big scary F-site.

1. Email – A foundation for online communication, email allows you to put all your thoughts out in a message that is not limited by character or time. With CC and BCC fields it can facilitate a much more personal blast via subscription newsletter or foster an intimate conversation with close friends.
2. Phone – Yes, before our phones had touchscreens and Tweets and iTunes, these little devices were nothing more than the mobile generation of their landline predecessors. Regardless of whether your phone has a cord or a touchscreen or it flips, it’s a wonderful way to hear a loved ones’ voice and catch up on the events of life.
3. Flickr – Who needs tagged photos in Facebook albums when you can tag photos in a Flickr album? Hopefully your friends and family will have better tagging etiquette on this site and choose not to alert your followers to an unfortunate photo of you involving a sombrero, a potted palm and a windsock (don’t ask…)
4. GChat/Skype – If phone calls won’t work, both of these online services provide an excellent alternative. If ICQ or AIM was your thing “back in the day” then you will be pleasantly surprised to discover GChat. If you have a web-camera and are feeling particularly techie and adventurous you can use the video conferencing feature to have an almost face-to-face talk.
5. Coffee Dates – You may not be addicted to this sweet caffeinated nectar of the gods, that’s fine. I, however, would prefer to inject it intravenously if at all possible. Your coffee date does not need to involve coffee or any other high-priced cafe beverage. Besides, a kitchen table or living room chair is much more comfy than those chic wrought-iron table and chairs.
6. eCards – The online solution to all things snail, I’m personally a big fan of someecards when sending a quick Thinking Of You note to family and friends. I also use BirthdayAlarm.com to remind me of important dates (birthdays, anniversaries, slumber parties, etc) for which I should send a little something. You could accomplish something similar with reminders in your Google Calendar.
7. Letters – There is something so thoughtful and beautiful about receiving a hand-written letter from someone. The time they took to pen the note, the paper they selected, the funny drawings and scratched out words that are so indicative of their persona that you miss them a little more and silently cling the missive in your hands.
8. Share-An-Item – A friend of mine does this with 3 of her friends, they share-an-item amongst themselves. A talisman or token, theirs is actually a piece of costume jewelry prominently displayed. Whenever one woman is faced with an event or challenging time the item is sent for her to wear. An unspoken support and bond reminds her to believe in herself each time she catches a glimpse of it.
9. Annual Get-Togethers – When a quick catch-up over a cup of tea is not a possibility, then schedule a time once (or twice (or ten times)) a year to meet up somewhere for a long weekend and revel in the awesomeness of being able to share a dinner, a hug, and an adventure. I use Kayak.com to alert me of upcoming travel deals to see friends and family during the year.
10. Psychedelic Mind Bend Telepathic Waves – Ok, this one is a bit harder to master. But if you can…dude…the sky is the limit for your ways to keep in touch!

What are some of the ways that you make sure to maintain solid and lasting relationships with your friends?

In case you haven’t noticed I’m a nerd, okay a big nerd! I also heart all things Mac so it’s only fitting that I am slightly obsessed with apps (iPhone and iPad). I thought I’d a) share some app suggestions for you and b) ask for your suggestions!

Thanksgiving Apps:

Thanksgiving: Free iPhone Apps for Turkey Day: I am quite amazed by the number of Thanksgiving themed apps there are on the market. Here are the best Free iPhone apps. From games to recipe apps to football score checkers these should have you set.

Thanksgiving: iPad Apps for Turkey Day: here we have some fabulous cooking apps. Seriously, recipe/cookbook apps on the iPad are so pretty! You’ve got the page flipping of the traditional cookbook with fun features like list making and conversions for number of services. Oh and also football – not on my plans for Turkey Day but hey I hear you people like it.

5 Best iPad Cooking/Recipe Apps: Aside from the worry of splashing food on on the touchscreen your trusty iPad makes a great partner in the kitchen. Search and save your favorite recipes with these apps.

Black Friday Shopping Apps:

Black Friday: 10 Free Apps to Help Save Money: the day after Thanksgiving has become coined as “Black Friday” the ultimate shopping holiday. Save money on your holiday shopping with the help of these apps.

Shopping from the iPad: Don’t Mind if I Do: I’m not sure if I hate malls or people in malls around the holidays more but I do know I will be doing as much of my shopping online/through the iPad as I can.

Other Apps to Use Around the Holidays

7 Must Have Travel Companion Apps: these are the apps I was using frequently when I traveled all the time. If you are traveling to/from family for the holidays these will make your life easier.

Apps for People Who Heart Music: I can’t imagine the traveling and roadtrips that happen during the holidays without my own personal soundtrack. If you’re into holiday music (or not) these are my go-to music apps.

10 Awesome Free Card Games: I’m not sure what it is about Thanksgiving (I’m guessing the football) that makes my brother and I suddenly have an interest in card games. I see him about once a week and never fails the last week in November we pull out the trusty old cards. I’m thinkin’ this year we may play the digital variety on our roadtrip on Saturday.

Digital Bookworm Apps: standing in the security line at the airport and being in a strange house for the night can become so much better if you can catch up on your reading. I am quite surprised how accustomed I’ve become to reading on the Kindle app on the iPhone. You can also shop ebooks to give as gifts for the holiday.

Giving Thanks – Apps for Gratitude Journaling: this list was compiled by my lovely friend Doniree. ‘Tis the season to give thanks, and these apps will help you record and share the things you’re grateful for. PS: if you’re not already subscribed to her blog you should remedy that.

Make Your Friends & Family Look Funny with these Apps & Part 2: and last but finally not least these silly apps are gauranteed to bring some humor to your family gatherings. Imagine aging your 12 year old cousin by 20 years, or making your diet obsessed Aunt look 20 pounds heavier. The idea is you take a photo and these apps will give you options to alter/warp/cartoonize your family members. There will be laughter.

NOW – your turn, any apps I must know about? PS: if you haven’t gathered I recommend Appolicious. It’s a quick easy sign up and with the “Build Your Library” feature at the top you can share all of your apps easily. Here is my entire app library.

I have a (okay a few) question for you…

• do you know the “day job” of bloggers that you follow regularly?
• do you know what your Facebook friends do for a living?

… neither do I. Well maybe some.

If you are here (or reading via RSS) you must know that I’m a blogger and I sometimes talk about pink things and other times talk about technology. I like to classify myself as a blonde computer nerd, which might be an understatement because I am in fact quite techie (particularly for a girl). By day, and by middle of the night noctural people time, I am a Community Manager for Bizzy. If you haven’t heard of it, yet, don’t worry because we just launched a new site, YESTERDAY!

So what is Bizzy?

Bizzy is a personalized local recommendation engine. The keyword here being personalized. Bizzy helps you find the best places to eat, shop, and play based on the spots you already know and love. You tell us your favorites, and we’ll find you new ones.

You and I both can visit our trusty friend google (or any number of social networking sites and ask “hey goog… what’s the best Pizza in Austin/Phoenix/Miami“. Guess what will happen? We will get the same answer. No offense to you dear reader but I know that I don’t like the same food places as you. I mean, I know not everyone shares the love of Mac & Cheese that Jamie, Lea and I have. It’s okay, not everyone is a carbotarian.

I digress… it’s quite simple. You answer a few questions. Think “who has the best salsa” the food kind, not the dancing kind. And Bizzy will provide some recommendations for things you might like. We are still in the beta stage (translation there may be a few bugs) but we’d love to have you check it out and let us know your feedback.

How to Be a Bizzy Ground Breaker in Your City

• Go to Bizzy.com
• Sign up via Facebook or your email address
• Answer some questions about your favorite places to Eat, Shop & Play
• Share your recommendations with your friends via Facebook and Twitter… or email or snail mail or staple some flyers to a board at your favorite dive bar
• Keep up with the latest news about Bizzy: Facebook, Twitter, & Blog
• Be awesome

Bizzy in the News

• Yelp Meets Netflix with Local Business Search Engine Bizzy.com – Media Bistro
• Just launched: Bizzy. A personalized local business recommendation engine. – The Next Web
• Bizzy Launches ‘Local Recommendation Engine’ – PCMag
• Get Custom Local Business Recommendations with Bizzy – Mashable

If you’re the twittering type you can follow @Bizzy or if you’re in the select pre-beta markets @BizzyDallas (me), @BizzyNY, or @BizzySF. If you have any feedback, questions, ideas, praise… you can leave a comment here. Comment on the Bizzy Blog. Or email me and I’ll pass it along.

The headline pretty much says it all …


Who: Quarterlife Magazine and any eligible generation y person
What: Free iPhone (times 2 – one for winner and one for nominator)
Where: QuarterlifeMag.com
When: nominations end December 31. The giveaway will be January 10th.
Why: a) they’re crazy b) they’re cool … you decide
How:

Know someone in Generation Y who is making a difference or a shining example of what it means to be part of the world’s largest global generation?

Then share it with us!

E-mail Quarterlife Magazine (contest@quarterlifemag.com) and tell us why your friend is an ideal Generation-Y individual and win them an iPhone – and if your nomination wins, you get an iPhone, too!

Up until age 25 I always thought I wasn’t really into books. I read the books I was required to read for school and that was about it. At 25, things changed, perhaps it was a quarterlife crisis or becoming single again but for some reason I discovered that I really am a book person.

Now, I’m not a typical girl when it comes to my book interests. I am a non-fiction, business and development book kinda reader. To give you an idea, the last few books I’ve read were Trust Agents, Outliers, and Tipping Point. I think in the past 2 years I’ve only read one stereotypical "girl" book, which was Eat, Pray, Love (highly recommend it!). I have read a few books written for women, one was about women and money and the other about business.

Because my book interests are so different than my Twilight reading friends I’ve never really taken recommendations from my friends. I’ve usually chosen the next read from the latest buzz on Twitter or from blogs I follow.

Lately, I’ve started to take an interest in the world of social networking for books and various online resources for finding book recommendations.

Here are some of the fun book related sites I’ve found:

Good Reads: a way to bring book lovers together. I first joined Good Reads by seeing a sidebar on my friend’s Facebook page showing the current book she was reading. I love this quote on the Press page:

"My geeky little Generation Y heart burst with joy when I found out about the social networking slash armchair critic book reviews site: Good Reads. More unaccredited, unsubstantiated, unfiltered streams of parboiled user-generated content! And you can meet others like you. Yes! The democracy of the web spreads yet further. Check out my profile, make your own and be my friend. I just listed the past 5 books I’ve read, the ones I’m on now and what I’ll be moving on to. Haven’t quite finished all of my reviews, so stay tuned." — misus spine

Goodreads is the largest social network for readers in the world. We have over 2,500,000 members who have added over 60,000,000 books to their shelves. A place for casual readers and bona-fide bookworms alike, Goodreads members recommend books, compare what they are reading, keep track of what they’ve read and would like to read, form book clubs and much more. Goodreads was launched in December 2006.

Shelfari: a visual representation of the books on your virtual shelf.

Shelfari introduces readers to our global community of book lovers and encourages them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers (for now). Shelfari is a gathering place for authors, aspiring authors, publishers, and readers, and has many tools and features to help these groups connect with each other in a fun and engaging way. Our mission is to enhance the experience of reading by connecting readers in meaningful conversations about the published word.

LibraryThing: Catalog your books online.

LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.

Readernaut: newest to the scene of books and social networking, Readernaut is still in Beta.

Share your reading experience by writing notes, tracking progress, and meeting fellow readers.

BookMooch: Give books away. Get books you want.

Give & receive: Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish.

No cost: there is no cost to join or use this web site: your only cost is mailing your books to others.

IndieBound: a resource to find independently owned bookstores near you. For those of you who are all about Buying Local here’s another resource for ya.

IndieBound is a community-oriented movement. It brings together booksellers, readers, indie retailers, local business alliances, and anyone else with a passionate belief that healthy local economies help communities thrive. Supporting local, indie businesses means that dollars, jobs, diversity, choice, and taxes stay local, creating strong, unique communities and happy citizens.

It’s a powerful tool for booksellers to communicate their part in a national movement supporting independents–and lets everyone know just how many independent bookstores there are.

BookCrossing: Where books take on a life of their own. They call it "The World’s Biggest Free Book Club".

BookCrossing is earth-friendly, and gives you a way to share your books, clear your shelves, and conserve precious resources at the same time. Through our own unique method of recycling reads, BookCrossers give life to books. A book registered on BookCrossing is ready for adventure. Leave it on a park bench, a coffee shop, at a hotel on vacation. Share it with a friend or tuck it onto a bookshelf at the gym — anywhere it might find a new reader! What happens next is up to fate, and we never know where our books might travel. Track the book’s journey around the world as it is passed on from person to person.

Book Trailers YouTube Channel: think movie trailers meets books. Most of the trailers are for books I would not read but, hey it’s a fun idea.

I’ve created profiles on GoodReads and Shelfari. If you’re on either of these sites feel free to add me as a friend. I’ve added a few of my past reads and some of my wish lists. I’ll be playing around with both of these sites in the near future. My favorite thing that both of these social sites has is the quotes section. You can add your favorite quotes directly on a book’s page. I got my book underlining obsession from my mom, so it will be fun to share my underline-worthy parts with the booknerds of the world. [Update: I just discovered Goodreads can post updates to twitter and Facebook. I'm all about bringing everything together!]

Do you use any of these social book sites? How do you get book recommendations? If you happen to be one of the many twenty-something ladies who like the girly books I mentioned before – you should join the Chick Lit group on 20sb.

I mentioned in my previous post that today is the launch of the new and improved and shiny version of Brazen Careerist. I’m so excited for them that I decided I need to pass on some of their big media mentions:

• Fast Company: Brazen Careerist Launch: Twitter meets Facebook meets LinkedIn meets Gen Y… and it’s about time.
• Mashable: Brazen Careerist: The Job Site for Gen Y?
• Lifehacker: Brazen Careerist Makes Professional Networking Less Painful
• TechCrunch: Brazen Careerist: A Professional Network That Realizes You’re More Than Just A Resume
• still want more … do a simple twitter search for Brazen Careerist and you’ll see, they’re big time!

And some words from the founders:

• Penelope Trunk: All-new launch for my company. Hooray!
• Ryan Paugh: We Launched the New Brazen Careerist Today, and Why Bigger Does Mean Better.
• Ryan Healy: A Startup Isn’t About One Big Idea, It’s About A Lot Of Little Ideas

If you see any more that I’ve missed feel free to mention them in the comments or @elysa and of course @BrazenCareerist on twitter. Again I’ll say I’m proud of team Brazen! And luck to know you guys (and Penelope, hi P’Lope!).

If you want to see my posts about Brazen since the beginning they’re tagged Brazen Careerist. Have you ever noticed the fun browse by category option at the top of the blog?